Research and analysis

Monkeypox outbreak: epidemiological overview, 9 August 2022

Updated 4 April 2024

Monkeypox is a zoonotic infection, caused by the monkeypox virus, that occurs mostly in West and Central Africa. Previous cases in the UK had been either imported from countries where monkeypox is endemic or contacts with documented epidemiological links to imported cases. Between 2018 and 2021, there had been 7 cases of monkeypox in the UK. Of these, 4 were imported, 2 were cases in household contacts, and one was a case in a health care worker involved in the care of an imported case. There was no documented community transmission in previous outbreaks.

Current epidemiological situation as of 8 August 2022

Cases of monkeypox infection were confirmed in England from 6 May 2022. The outbreak has mainly been in gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men without documented history of travel to endemic countries. Further details on the epidemiology are available in the monkeypox technical briefing.

To expand the UK’s capability to detect monkeypox cases, some NHS laboratories are now testing suspected monkeypox samples with an orthopox polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test (orthopox is the group of viruses which monkeypox is part of). Since 25 July 2022, the monkeypox case definition recognises those who are orthopox-positive as highly probable cases, and those who test positive on a monkeypox PCR test as confirmed cases. The counts below combine both of these categories.

Up to 8 August 2022 there were 2,914 confirmed and 103 highly probable monkeypox cases in the UK: 3,017 in total. Of these, 69 were in Scotland, 25 were in Northern Ireland, 40 were in Wales and 2,883 were in England.

Table 1: Number of confirmed and highly probable monkeypox cases by UK nation of residence, 6 May to 8 August 2022

UK nation Total* Confirmed* Highly Probable*
England 2,883 (+153) 2,780 (+141) 103 (+12)
Northern Ireland 25 25 0
Scotland 69 (+2) 69 (+2) 0
Wales 40 (+3) 40 (+3) 0
Total 3,017 (+158) 2,914 (+146) 103 (+12)

*The numbers in brackets show change since last report (4 August 2022)

A high proportion of England cases were London residents (71%, 2,047 of 2,870 with location information). For confirmed and highly probable cases in the UK, where gender information was available, 2,957 (98.8%) were men and 35 were women. The median age of confirmed and highly probable cases in the UK was 36 years (interquartile range 31 to 43).

Table 2: Number of confirmed and highly probable monkeypox cases by region of residence, England, 6 May to 8 August 2022

Region of residence Total confirmed and highly probable cases Change since last report
East of England 107 +4
East Midlands 41 +2
London 2,047 +93
North East 32 +3
North West 161 +11
South East 258 +21
South West 74 +9
West Midlands 91 +6
Yorkshire and Humber 59 +4
Under investigation** 13 0
Total 2,883 +153

**Address not yet confirmed. Negative changes due to updates to location information.

Data sources

Monkeypox surveillance data in England is currently compiled daily, based on monkeypox and orthopox virus test results from the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL), which is the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monkeypox reference laboratory, and other UK laboratories with monkeypox and orthopox testing. This is combined with case information recorded by local Health Protection Teams in the UKHSA national case management system.

Counts of confirmed cases in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland are submitted to UKHSA by Public Health Wales, Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, and Public Health Scotland respectively.

Information about this publication

As of 9 August 2022, this update is published weekly on Tuesdays, with an accompanying dataset showing monkeypox case numbers by region and upper tier local authority of residence. The data is extracted at 9.30am on Monday.

From 21 June 2022 to week ending 5 August 2022, this update was published twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays), and had replaced the news stories previously published 3 times a week in the UKHSA News Stories page.

These figures are used for official reporting of monkeypox confirmed case counts in the UK.

England counts may differ from those published in the Notifications of infectious diseases (NOIDs) causative agents weekly report. This is due to differences in timings of when the data is compiled, and differences in processing of duplicate data (for example, if a person has tested more than once but insufficient information is provided to identify them).

Additional resources

Monkeypox technical briefings

Monkeypox: case definitions

Monkeypox contact tracing guidance: classification of contacts and advice for vaccination and follow up